Fun in O-Town

Yesterday around noon we arrived back in Ohio after 5 days in Orlando. We stayed with our very good friends Melissa and Kevin and their two little ones and had a BLAST. We fly home to Kansas City so often that this actually felt like a real vacation and it couldn't have gone any better. That being said, I'm exhausted and trying to catch up with work and laundry makes for long days with minimal time left to blog!

I've mentioned Melissa on here before, but had to include a quick paragraph so you will understand why I was looking forward to this trip forever! You see, Melissa is my separated-from-birth twin. We met 9 years ago when we lived in Jacksonville and quickly immediately became friends. You know how there are people in your life that you just know you were supposed to meet? Derek was one of them, but I know that Melissa is another one. We were eerily similar from day 1 and connected faster than most of my other friends. I look forward to the days we can spend together and was so excited to see her again. Due to the thousands of miles that separate us, the last time I saw her was April 2010 and before that was September of 2009. I saw this quote the other day and it was perfect for this post:

Anyway, enough with the sentimental writing. Moving on to our trip! I'm sure I'll have to recap everything and post tons of pictures over a few days so just bear with me. We arrived on Thursday morning and spent that day just relaxing and playing by the pool. Friday was our big Disney day so we had to rest up before heading into that chaos. The last time I had been to the Magic Kingdom was in 2007 when I went to Disney with Derek and couldn't WAIT to take my little man. It was an absolutely perfect day and the short afternoon even shower came when both of our boys were napping in their strollers. It couldn't have worked out any better and Drew seemed to love everything about the park.

I'm not sure if I would recommend taking a trip to Disney specifically for a toddler, but we were already heading to Orlando and figured we would just make a day of it! I think it was a perfect age for him as he was so interested in everything around him. He knew a bunch of the characters and although a bit shy on some of the rides, he never really showed signs of fear.

I honestly felt a pang of sadness when we had to leave the park. I wish it was closer and wasn't so expensive that I could make it an annual trip. It truly is a 'happy' place to go and is so full of life and childhood innocence. I guess that we're lucky to have friends in Orlando since now we have an excuse to go again in a few years!

Thanks again to our wonderful tour guides and thanks again to Derek's parents for the hotel room at the Swan!!

(More pics to come from our trip in future posts!)